Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed

Subject: Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed
From: beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:54:51 -0800

In my decades in high tech, I've never heard of a company's VP personally
answering a single user's concern about one of their products in a public
forum - much less in such excruciating technical detail.

I've previously stated that Madcap's support is outstanding, and this is a
very impressive case in point.

Bee

On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 9:05 AM, Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>wrote:

> Another way would be to put something in the footers of your help file that
> non-identifiable usage statistics are being collected.
>
> As I said many times, if you feel you should let your users know, I think
> you should do that. Mike suggested one way. I bet there's many others,
> depending on your users and workflow.
>
> Glad that's all cleared up. Mike knows far more than I do about Feedback.
>
>
> sharon
>
> Sharon Burton
> MadCap Software Product Consultant
> Managing your content, one topic at a time
> www.anthrobytes.com
> 951-369-8590
> IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com
> Twitter: sharonburton
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon <techwr-l-bounces%2Bsharon>=
> anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 10:57 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed
>
> For easy future reference, here's MadCap's recommended workaround and
> explanation:
>
> "... generate two .chm files, one with [feedback enabled] and one
> without. Then create an installer that politely asks which one the
> user would like to install. As to adding an opt-out to a .chm file,
> the format is locked down by Microsoft so the only way to do such a
> thing would be to add a new .dll file that would have to be installed
> with the .chm file and registered on the machine. That would be a HUGE
> amount of overhead for something that would be much easier to do via
> the installer option I mentioned above. Or, the only way to do it
> without a .dll would be to add an opt-out to every single topic - not
> realistic at all."
>
> Full post:
>
> http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0912/techwhirl-0912-00352.html
>
> On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> wrote:
> > I'm surprised to find that in fact local help (.chm etc.) generated by
> > MadCap Flare with the feedback feature enabled does collect data on
> > topics viewed, search terms, and CSH calls without getting an opt-in
> > from the user:
> >
> > "... we have some very high security end-users with very strict
> > policies. The workaround solution we found was just to instruct users
> > who do not want to submit feedback to block our secure URL."
> >
> > http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7564
> >
> >
>
> http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare/Content/Feedback/Feedback_Explorer_I
> nternal_Versus_External.htm<http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare/Content/Feedback/Feedback_Explorer_I%0Anternal_Versus_External.htm>
> >
> > Yeah, this isn't the user's driver's license or credit card, but it is
> > information about the user. Collecting it is a violation of privacy,
> > and in some places illegal.
> >
> > Since it's being sent over the internet, the data *is* traceable back
> > to the user via the IP.
> >
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing
> --
> generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need
> from just one project. Fast and intuitive. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing
> --
> generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need
> from just one project. Fast and intuitive. http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as beelia -at- pacbell -dot- net -dot-
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>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/

Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing --
generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need
from just one project. Fast and intuitive. http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed: From: Robert Lauriston
RE: MacCap feedback - surreptitious reporting confirmed: From: Sharon Burton

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